Steph from Stephfood was our Daring Cooks‘ July hostess. Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine. She provided us with recipes for Spätzle and Fresh Egg Pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with!
My sister, Janet, is an excellent cook and she married in to a family of excellent cooks – they even have a family cookbook. The Niemann family is of German descent and one of their favorite meals is Spätzle with Rouladen. Janet’s mother-in-law even ordered Spätzle presses from Germany for her daughters and daughters-in-law.
When I told my sister Spätzle was the Daring Cook’s challenge for the month, she invited me to come and cook it with her in her beautiful kitchen. She lives in a small country town and it was a pleasure driving through our gorgeous mountains and spending time cooking with her.
Spätzle is an egg noodle, but it’s moister and softer than traditional pasta. You don’t need a press to make Spätzle, just cut thin strips of dough with a knife and scrape the strips into boiling salt water. Rouladen is thin sliced beef rolled up and filled with chopped onion and bacon. Many Rouladen recipes wrap a pickle inside with the onion and bacon, but Janet’s mother-in-law’s recipe doesn’t include a pickle.
Janet’s tips: Spätzle is best if cooked right before you’re ready to eat it. You can make the dough ahead of time, up to 3 hours, and keep the bowl covered with a damp towel. If you have to cook it ahead of time, toss it with a little olive oil so the noodles don’t clump together. Spätzle also freezes well.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose or bread flour
- 1 1/2 cups semolina flour
- 3 eggs
- 1 - 1 1/2 cups water
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons chopped onion
- 6 tablespoons chopped bacon (I used Costco Hormel frozen fully cooked bacon)
- 3 cups water
- salt
- pepper
Directions
- Mix together all ingredients until smooth. Dough will form bubbles. Place dough in Spätzle? press and press into boiling water. Simmer until noodles rise to the top of the water, then continue cooking 1 minute longer. (If necessary, scrap the bottom of the pan.) Remove with a slotted spoon and drain well. Place cooked noodles in a large bowl and repeat cooking process until all dough is cooked. Serve noodles with meat and gravy.
- Pound beef to tenderize if necessary. (The top round was perfect without tenderizing.) Sprinkle each piece of meat with salt and pepper. Place 1 tablespoon chopped onion and 1 tablespoon chopped bacon on each piece of meat. Roll up and secure with a toothpick.
- Brown rolls in a heavy pot with a little oil or bacon grease. After the meat is browned, add water. Cook on low heat until meat is tender (2-3 hours). Thicken gravy with flour or cornstarch. Add additional salt and pepper to taste. Serve with Spätzle?.
Notes
Adapted from Judith Niemann
Visit the Daring Kitchen to see the all the creative pastas the Daring Cooks cooked up this month. Thanks Steph for a terrific challenge.
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I love to bake, especially cookies, cakes, and pies. I’ll post my adventures in the kitchen, my favorite new recipes, as well as our family favorites.
In Switzerland we have a speciality called “Spätzli” and which is very similar to “Spätzle”… That is one scrumptious meal!
Cheers,
Rosa
This looks very delicious and I would love to have the Rouladen right now but it’s already past midnight here….can only have it in my dream
)
Have a wonderful weekend ahead.
This looks like a great meal! I think I have had rouladen with a pickle in the middle. The bacon sounds wonderful though!
Barbara, this looks way yummy! I’ve made spatzle before with a friend. He pressed the dough through a colander to form the noodles. They were delish!
I wonder how much you both enjoyed cooking together, your dish looks amazing, and delicious! I really want to try the spatzle sometime soon.
I just recently had spatzle for the first time, and I wondered why I’d waited so long! This looks like a wonderful recipe for it. Now that I know how good it is, there’s no reason not to make it!
This looks so wholesome and like a big bowl of comfort food!
O Barbara,
My “German” husband (well, it is his second country) would love this. What a fun way to spend an afternoon with your sister.
A favorite meal when I’m dining in a German restaurant. I’ve made spaetzl, but never had a good recipe for rouladen. I’ll be trying this soon. I’m happy to find your blog and will be following it.
It looks perfect! Käse Spätzle is my favorite dish here in Germany.
Thanks! That’s a great compliment coming from someone who lives in Germany. I’m sure it’s fabulous with cheese.
One of my favorite meals, ever! Is that her food processor or mixer she is making her dough in?
Thanks! It’s her Bosch Mixer, It’s suppose to be more powerful and versatile than the Kitchenaid and she loves it.
How cool is that! I love that you made your own pasta and even better it didn’t require a pasta maker or all the gadgets usually involved. It looks absolutely divine and something I would love to try! great job
That’s one brave dish to attempt!! Looks like it turned out great though.
I’ve been wanting to try my hand at homemade noodles! Looks like your Spätzle came out perfect!
My sweet German grandmother would be so proud! The spatzle looks wonderful…
I’ve eaten it and enjoyed it many times, but have never tried to make it.
Guess it’s time to give it a whirl!
Sounds delicious Barbara, gloria
Barbara,
Unfortunately, I LOVE NOODLES.
and these look so FAntastic!
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PS. how fun cooking with your Sis
Hi Barbara,
Wow, that looks amazing! I am glad you got to spend time with your sister, how fun! I will try this spatzle one day. I love making home made noodles
This looks so good. We have a German store by us and they have every kind of sausage and the best meat market. I did pick up some spatzle there because I saw someone buy it and I never had it before. Now I want to make it myself! It looks like you used a potato ricer, is it similar to that?
Thanks! It is very similar to a potato ricer, only the holes seemed to be a bit bigger.
oh wow love this my favorite German dish must have been so much fun cooking together :-0
My mother in-law would love to try your Spätzle and Rouladen! You really did a perfect job in creating this classic German dish. I also like the type Knöpfle shaped Spätzle (just like little buttons)…
I’m half German and have never had this! {I’ve had the Hungarian version of this called Nookedly.} I’m bookmarking this.
How fun to cook with your sister. She’s one pretty lady! And such an interesting dish. I know I would lick my plate clean.
My German grandmother used to make Spätzle all the time. We loved it! Haven’t thought about it for ages. Loved this post, Barbara. Your sister looks like you.
Every time I hear ‘rouladen’, I recall an intense convo with a friend who insisted rouladen was better than braciole, even though they’re essentially the same thing, just different filler (hers was similar to yours, but also contained diced gherkins) . Your spaetzle is gorgeous! I was going to make spaetzle and chicken paprikash, but rouladen looks and sounds so much better! That’s what’s going to accompany my next spaetzle endeavor
Ah I have so many fond memories as an apprentice making spatzle. Good times, haven’t done it since then, great to be inspired again by the traditional recipes.
Thanks for sharing. Your wonderful recipes with us.
How clever to do this without a machine! I’ve seen it done on shows and it looks like lots of fun
xxx
That is so cool you could make that.
This is such a perfect meal! We love spatzle – yummy and fun! And rouladen, well there is a version in every European country and we love it! Janet’s recipe sounds and looks great! I’ll be trying this.
I want to try making those noodles. I love making pasta from scratch, and while I have used a machine once, I prefer rolling them out and shaping them by hand. Homemade egg noodles are my favorite but I’ll bookmark this recipe and try it. Looks so good!
Wonderful job on your homemade pasta! Your spaetzle looks amazing!!! As much fun as I had shoving the dough through colander, your press turned out an amazing noodle! Great job!
I have never made this before but it looks too good to miss out on.
Well huh. We always made rouladen with a much bigger piece of meat that was several servings for the whole family and then sliced to serve. This sent me googling, only to discover that everybody else’s rouladens are small rolls like this with more individual serving rolls. I’m going to have to try this route instead, I think.
Is this cookbook available to purchase?
I was going to make spaetzle and chicken paprikash, but rouladen looks and sounds so much better! I love making pasta from scratch, and while I have used a machine once, I prefer rolling them out and shaping them by hand. Ah I have so many fond memories as an apprentice making spatzle.